RTIC Softside Cooler

Hmmm well they don’t perform magic and you can’t fake thermodynamics.
3 days is a stretch in any soft side unless it’s cold out, but we have the same soft side for boat beers and with pre chilled dinks and sitting in the sun in a black boat all day and opening it for every drink, it’ll have a little ice in it the next day with just a bag of ice from the store in it with a couple leftover cold drinks.
IMO it does as good as it should.

bob213 wrote:
My BIL has an RTIC hardside cooler and it performs well. I needed a new softside cooler for my 10 day trip we just returned from. I purchased a 30 qt. softside directly from RTIC. They advertise that it keeps ice for 3 days.
Don't be fooled! This is a day cooler. It hardly keeps ice for 12-15 hours. A styrofoam cooler would perform as well. We kept it in the air conditioned trailer with pre-chilled sodas and it was a joke.
RTIC told me I was too late to return it but could try a warranty claim. They had me do a 3 day "ice test" which it failed completely. I was then told I could send it back at my expense and they would do an "ice test". Are you kidding me?... I guess I have a new $110. day cooler :M
Don't waste your money!!!

You always could of spent double that and bought the Yeti, which would not hold ice for 3 days either. The RTIC performs just as well, I have both, and also have RTIC hard sides that outperform Yeti for less $, have both brands of those also.

Not sure you're going to find a soft side anything that will keep ice for 3 days. Maybe in the shade at 35 degrees ambient full of ice and never opened..

Where does RTIC make that 3 day claim on their soft sides? Not able to be found on their website.

We got a couple EchoSmile (knockoff Yeti) coolers a year ago and we still love them.

If we're just going out for a quick day or evening, then we just fill them with ice and go. But if it's going to be multi-day and we need the ice to last, then I fill the cooler with ice first to cool it down to temp, dump that ice, and then finally fill it with food/drinks and fresh ice. This works pretty well.

I also use the bigger cooler to let my meats "rest" when I've cooked something big on the smoker. The cooler will keep a brisket or pork butt warm for hours if you warm up the cooler first. I have some ratty old towels that I use for this and I put them in the dryer to heat them up and then put the hot towels in the cooler to get it warm in there. Then when I'm ready to take the meat off the grill, I reheat the towels and wrap the meat in foil pans and warm towels to let it rest before mealtime.

If you end up keeping your soft cooler, try pre-cooling it before your trip and see if that doesn't make your ice last another day or so. And make sure the food & drinks have been chilled first too, otherwise a warm cooler and warm foodstuff will melt that ice almost instantly.

I'm not really trying to get 3 days out of it but 12-15 hours would be nice. I will try pre-cooling it and see if that helps. Not sure if RTIC actually makes a 3 day claim or if I was misled by reviews. Just not what I expected for $100.+

My Yeti softside cooler kept ice for about 48 hours while in my car (so not direct sun). I had a Yeti ice pack in the bottom, then cold drinks were added, then topped off with loose ice. I imagine a similar set up would work for the RTIC.

JAC1982 wrote:
My Yeti softside cooler kept ice for about 48 hours while in my car (so not direct sun). I had a Yeti ice pack in the bottom, then cold drinks were added, then topped off with loose ice. I imagine a similar set up would work for the RTIC.

I will give that a try. I'm sure it will help to use the correct method. Thanks.

So you did not open it until after 3 days and there was not ice? Because that is what those ratings typically mean.

mich800 wrote:
So you did not open it until after 3 days and there was not ice? Because that is what those ratings typically mean.

Ice test has you open lid once a day for 30 seconds. It was water long before that. Not much of a "real world" test.
Now I'm told to fill with ice night before to cool down. I will try that.
I'll live with whatever I get, it's just not what I had hoped for.
Just a heads up for anyone mistakenly expecting more like I was.

BTW even if the ice melts, it's probably still cold in there to keep your drinks cold. I don't put food in the soft side unless I know I'm eating it that day since it could get soggy in the melted ice, but it's great for drinks.

I've had the hard side still have ice in it after a week of sitting in the garage area of our former toyhauler (where there was no AC) when it was 100 degrees out. Key there is to use ice blocks in the bottom and not have it in direct sun.

My soft coolers I only expect to stay cold for a day. But I freeze bottles or jugs of water to use for ice in them. No problem with soggy food.